Disneyland for the Disabled

[mystic_path]

Can someone tell me about ride lines and disabilities???? I know that if you have some disabilities you can get to the front of the line. My little cousin has autism and they let him.

Now family friends of ours are going in April and their daughter who is 25 is technically blind sorta (She has like 20 % Vision). She can see things if she is right up close to them, but still has to stay close to others when walking around so she can find her way. She has dealt with the Institute for the blind for years and has the whole disability card and everything...

The family wants to know if this counts for them for the ride lineups?

THANKS!

 

[DisneyMomma81]

I'm sure a person (especially an adult) with limited or no vision could wait in line like everyone else.

 

[mystic_path]

That's exactly what I said.. But I too got curious when the family asked me that question.

 

[goofycathy]

It cant hurt to ask on Main St, just go that building by the fire station ( I can never remember what its called dangit!) and see.....like I said, cant hurt to ask!

 

[mystic_path]

It cant hurt to ask on Main St, just go that building by the fire station ( I can never remember what its called dangit!) and see.....like I said, cant hurt to ask!

I think you mean City Hall and lol I suggested that too. I had no answer besides that.

 

[goofycathy]

LOL wouldnt you know it, as soon as I remember the name I came to post but someone beat me too it, I always forget until im at the gate or some nice person like yourself reminds me! thank you very very much, im going to go engrave that into my head now......LOL

 

[mystic_path]

LOL Thats ok no worries.. I forget about some names too... I can never for the life of me get the "Riverbelle terrace, and Cafe Orleans" straight in my head. I always get them mixed up and even at that I am always like .... Uhhh what was the name of that place, you know down at the end of Adventureland, the white building .... OOH DARN!

 

[DahliaRW]

I agree, it's different with a child with autism who physically and metally has issues waiting in line. A person who can't see well, I don't see how that inhibits waiting in line. But they could always ask.

 

[bumbershoot]

I have cousins with congenital cataracts, and who love Disneyworld, and although there are things like special seating for shows that they could get there, I'm not sure what special accommodations might be needed or given at 'land...

They don't have shows like the Lion King show, or the Nemo show at DLR, so there's no up-front seating that would help her.

I doubt the special viewing area for Nemo subs would help, since it's pretty much the same thing as on the ride, just you don't have to deal with stairs. Well that might very well be an issue, actually.

And realizing that stairs might be an issue, if they are indeed a problem, she might go to City Hall and talk to them about a pass that allows her to bypass stairs. That would get her into elevators on, say, Indy, and gets you in a different way with Big Thunder and Splash, and even TSMM I believe.

So stairs could be an issue with her sight problems.

Basically she needs to think of the things that her low vision causes problems with, and figure out what accommodations might be made, then ask for that at City Hall.

 

[McCall]

Check out the Disabilities forum on here for more extensive information. Be sure to read the Faqs and stickies there.

 

[bumbershoot]

Unfortunately they are fairly WDW focused, and often refer people here for DLR questions... That's what I've seen in the past at least, maybe it's opened up beyond WDW since then.

 

[Princess_Couture]

Hmmmm Yeah suggest going to City Hall to see what her options are. For the most part there isnt too much of a "Life threatening" disability and she can wait. Even for 3D shows that she would still be able to see as the screens are quite large, there is lots of room for her to choose a seat. But I would have her ask about shows such as Aladdin the musical because she may need to sit closer to see better.

 

[Echie]

I think someone with vision problems would be entitled to one of the accessibility cards (from city hall).

The biggest thing would be loading times and it may take her longer to get on and off the ride and also longer navigate to a seat in the theaters etc. And noone likes to be rushed!
It wouldn't give them front of the line privaleges of course, but they would be able to enter through the exit (in the older disneyland rides) and at California Adventure probably stand in line with everyone else but then once they get to the front would be brought over to somewhere where they can take their time loading.

 

[kiwitravel]

If the person is legally blind then surely this would count as a full disability. I could see that standing in line when totally blind could be a little unsettling (knowing when to walk forward, avoiding standing on other peoples toes etc). Also I agree with another poster that they are going to need a little additional time to load and unload. It does beg the question what will a totally blind person get from the rides?

Think they will have to let city hall decide on what is appropriate.

 

[TheZue]

I've looked at the GACs quite a bit. Our son has autism and doesn't handle lines well; this October will be our first trip with him since the diagnosis. Before we knew we used to just avoid all rides that had more than a 3 minute wait. From what I understand the City Hall will basically ask what sort of issues you have and work out what you need. People in wheelchairs often get to because they just can't get on the rides the regular way or the queues can't handle a chair. The autistic kids often get to cut because waiting is really difficult and they will often just meltdown. Unless her vision makes it difficult to stand in line or she can't manage the queue she probably won't be able to 'cut'...but the prospect of finding it difficult to keep track of her party might make it necessary to use the back door instead of being in the large mass of people in lines like Star Tours.

 

[bumbershoot]

The biggest thing would be loading times and it may take her longer to get on and off the ride and also longer navigate to a seat in the theaters etc. And noone likes to be rushed!

That is a seriously good thought.


If you just think of waiting in a shorter line, no of course it won't come to mind.


But when you think of the difficulties of normal lines, then it becomes VERY obvious that for a person with visual difficulties, things can be difficult.

I can think of Space Mountain right off the bat, as I read Echie's post, as one where loading in the accessible area would be MUCH preferable than to do the rush rush of the normal line. They have to get those "cars" off asap, and someone who is having a hard time stepping in is going to slow things down.

This makes absolute sense. So stairs, darker than normal lines, and quick loading lines are obvious.

Then I think of Haunted Mansion, where it's dark and you've got the moving walkway, and that's another that would be VERY likely to cause problems for osmeone with vision problems. It causes problems for me, since I have a very hard time seeing in darker places, ever since stupid dumb Lasik.

My aunt tells me that when they go through the darker queues with my cousin (this convo was before cousin took her kids to WDW so they weren't mentioned) cousin walks between mom and hubby. They tell her when to lift her foot for moving walkways, too.

So yes, although it didn't seem obvious at first, having a GAC to avoid difficult lines would dfeinitely be a good idea.

NOTE! There's no front of line passes. Sure it might look like someone is going to the front, and sometimes if the stars are aligned and there's no one in front they might get there faster. But I've also seen situations, when the lines are out there in the open (like on Nemo), they "hold" the people going through the other way a certain amount of time until they would normally be getting on the ride.

But usually there are people in front of you, even if you're going in a different entrance, so it's not as "front of line" as you'd think. Or so I've heard.

 

[kiwitravel]

Then I think of Haunted Mansion, where it's dark and you've got the moving walkway, and that's another that would be VERY likely to cause problems for osmeone with vision problems. It causes problems for me, since I have a very hard time seeing in darker places, ever since stupid dumb Lasik.

I am considering having my eyes lasered but have heard of others having massive problems with night vision after. Lasik operators have told me this is not the case with their system so your posting caught my eye. How bad is the problem and do you know how common it is?


To put some Disney back in I wonder if Scrooge ever considered Lasik? How many Disney characters wear glass I wonder.....

 

[LavenderPeach]

Unfortunately they are fairly WDW focused, and often refer people here for DLR questions... That's what I've seen in the past at least, maybe it's opened up beyond WDW since then.

Yeah, the Disabilities forum is more WDW focused but I asked several questions over there about how to manage DS's issues at DL and the people were very helpful. They wouldn't necessarily be able to help with specifics on how to do each ride but they might have some ideas on how to handle things in general.

 

[bumbershoot]

Continuing with the off topic...


When I was considering lasik, I figured I'd be perfect or I'd be blind. I was OK with those options.

What I have is an in between Hades. Massive bloodshot vein on the side of one eye, coming out from where they do the incision to make the flap. That's also the side where they started working before the anesthetic drops had "taken" completely (fun!).

When I'm in the dark and I'm looking to the light, all I can see is a shadow. So if I'm sick and in bed, and hubby comes in and stands in the doorway, all I can see is a looming shadow, not him. If I'm in the light and looking into darkness, I'm blind. I tend to keep lights on all day, even if it's bright outside and i have the blinds open.

I just drove to the library and store, and had the hardest time.

If someone is driving behind me and has their brights on, or if someone coming towards me with their brights on (or even those halogens that are so glaring, and sometimes if it's just a tall vehicle with lights up higher than normal) it hurts so much I tear up. And then I have that blind spot on my retinas for awhile, if you know what I mean.

Until a couple months ago I had perfect vision, ever since June of '00. For some reason, and it doesn't feel like an optometrist problem so I haven't gone to get glasses, but I'm not sure WHAT the problem is so I'm stuck right now. Some moments I can see perfectly, others I can't. I might just be switching over to older vision aka farsightedness, but I'm not sure.

My eyes are also dry quite often, more dry than they used to be. A friend of mine who had it done at the same time quit using drops about a month after. I'm still buying the expensive Genteal drops and using them.

I've gone from wearing glasses all the time to wearing SUNglasses all the time. I see no difference, since I'm still wearing glasses on my face. I wish I'd realized that!!!!!


The one interesting thing is something hubby noticed. My friend and I went to a larger clinic in our area for it. They see a ton of people. While hubby waited for me at each appt, he noticed that people with his coloring, brown eyes, dark hair, generally darker coloring, were walking out after their surgeries with almost no problems. Blinked a bit as they came into the light waiting room, but other than that didn't see hurt. But people with coloring like me...paler skin, lighter eyes (mine are dark blue, but still blue), lighter hair...they were the ones coming out in PAIN. On our drive home I had sunglasses, the big blackout glasses, and I put a coat over my head, and I was still in horrible pain. That plays out with me and my friend, as she tans easily, has darker hair, and has brown eyes (though in general we are both western European mutts, no actual racial difference, just coloring).

And that made me think back to when I wanted contacts at 18...I wanted hard contacts, and the optometrist REFUSED, because of my coloring. He said that people with my coloring, in his experience as an optometrist, had a really hard time with hard contacts, that they were more sensitive to light, to the plastic, etc, and they always came back in pain and having problems. He would not give me hard contacts.



The FDA is actually looking into problems like mine. The combo of low-level symptoms that have no solution is more common than thought, and it's maddening. Sure, I'm glad I am not blind. But i'm not glad that I have th eproblems I have, and I wish wish WISH that I had never had it.

Turns out I looked WAY CUTE with glasses, too, and hubby sometimes wishes I'd put plain glass lenses in my frames and wear those, b/c he liked me so much in my glasses!

 

[TheZue]

This isn't quite on par with the night vision problems but I've always been wary of laser eye surgery. My dad was a helicopter pilot and he was told that his licence would be suspended for a long time, I seem to recall a year or two, while they waited to see if his vision was okay. That always freaked me out.